Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jon1981]

Hello everyone,

So, I am sure most people have heard something about the Hagwon curfew, though I am surprised about how hard it is to actually find anything about it in the Korean English media and I have gone back through a few days of posts and not seen anything on the forum.

So, here is my question. The director at my Academy is up in arms about the demonstration that happened in Seoul at the end of last month and is convinced (as I suspect are most Hagwan owners) that a general Hagwon curfew is not that far away. She has even set the date, suggesting that it could be as early as January. This in and of itself would not cause me to much worry. I would love a guaranteed 10:00 p.m. end time and I agree as much as anyone that these kids need some sleep (even if most of them don't seem to want it). However, (and this is the part I have not been able to find any info on) she swears that the public school hours will be extended at about the same time as the Hagwon hours are restricted. She has said in two separate staff meetings that the hours will be extended to 6:00 p.m. for elementary schools, 8:00 p.m. for middle schools and 10:00 p.m. for high schools (effectively restricting older students from having any access to 'legal' Hagwan). Now, all of the sudden she is starting to talk about the possible need for split shifts and weekends like the whole thing will be inevitable.

Now, I have heard a few roomers from other sources that some public schools are already piloting these extended hours... though again I have not been able to confirm them. Has anyone else heard anything, can anyone point me to a news article or report, or is just my director getting all bent out of shape.

[egrog1717]

Working for an SMOE elementary school I havn't heard anything about this... Though it would be contractually impossible for them to extend our hours without overhauling the contract for the next batch of new hires in March...

[JJJ]

My middle school is already open from 3:30 to 8:00 for after-school classes in probably 5/6 subjects, 4 days a week. My co-t does 12 classes after school for extra $$$...(I do two). They serve dinner for the kids/teachers at 5:30 or so and continue on.

They do it for the poorer kids who can't afford to go to the hogwans, and as competition to try and keep kids in the school system and not relying on the hogwans for the actual teaching.

So, it's already started.

[calicoe]

My middle school is already doing this. They are open until 9:00, and on some days teachers are staying until 11:00.

[hapigokelli]

My highschool (Girl's Private High) is already open until midnight every day and serves all 3 meals to the students.

[annainkorea]

[laoshihao]

I know the high school girls I taught last year had mandatory afterschool and self-study times late into the night. I asked when they usually went to sleep and got up. Most went to bed between 12:30-1:00 and got up between 5:30-6:30 depending on how far away from school they were.

[cdninkorea]

[crossmr]

[randall020105]

[Billos]

[hellofaniceguy]

[waseige1]

[sugarkane59]

My Hagwon does this already. We shave off 10 minutes of the latest class, so that kids can be out by 10pm.

[ontheway]

Just 4 days ago:
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2912051


Interesting comments from one of the mothers.

Since the hogwans inside Seoul are forced to close at 10pm many students are now forced to go outside of Seoul. This adds commuting time and cost and means it's even more expensive and the kids have to stay up even later at night.

This is to be expected. Socialistic regulations always make things worse.


The problem with schools in Korea is that the government schools here are just horrible. Our in house studies of student abilities have found students learn more than 5 times as much in good hogwans in a year than they do in the same year in public schools.

The government already forces High School kids and some Middle School kids to spend longer hours in government schools. The government schools charge extra tuition fees for these mandated extra hours, which becomes extra pay for the public school teachers. The children still do not learn more, and they have to go to hogwans even later. The hogwans still outperform the public schools 5 to 1. The children wisely opt to sleep during the day, in class, during public school hours so as to optimize their learning time when it really counts - at their hogwans late at night.

In cases where High Schools already close after the hogwan closing time - in many communities HS is open to midnight with mandatory attendance and extra tuition, and hogwans are forced to close at midnight - so, there are private home teachers who go to their houses where HS students study vital subjects as late as 4am with teachers who can really teach. Two of my Korean friends teach HS math and science until 4am to groups in private homes. The children catch up on their sleep during the regular school hours.

Koreans are aware that the public schools here are worthless. The government cannot make them better and tries to destroy their competition with socialistic regulations. Parents will send their kids to hogwans, hire legal private teachers at home and, if necessary, hire illegal private teachers at home - anything to get some education for their kids that the government cannot and will never be able to provide.

To fix education in Korea, all government schools should be closed. They teach almost nothing, so this should start ASAP, at the end of any school year following legislative action to abolish the government schools.